Categories
Blog Newsletter Syndicate Top 10

Twitter Trouble: Top Ten Cartoons of the Week

There’s been a lot of talk about people being disengaged from politics this election cycle, and this week’s most popular cartoons seems to back that up.

Despite midterm elections that saw Republicans struggle and Donald Trump put himself back into the spotlight, editors seemed more interested in Elon Musk and the chaos he’s created at Twitter. Between the issues at Twitter and layoffs at Amazon, it wasn’t the best week for some of the world’s top tech giants.

I also enjoyed Dave Whamond’s cartoon about a changing of the guard at Starbucks, from pumpkin spike lattes to eggnog lattes, which is probably a lot more relevant to people than how large the Republican majority will be in the House.

Here are our top ten most reprinted cartoons of the week:

#1. Monte Wolverton, Cagle.com

 

#2. Dave Granlund, Cagle.com

 

#3. John Darkow, Columbia Missourian

 

#4. Jeff Koterba, Cagle.com

 

#5. Dave Granlund, Cagle.com

 

#6. John Darkow, Columbia Missourian

 

#7. Randall Enos, Cagle.com

 

#8. Adam Zyglis, Buffalo News

 

#9. Dave Whamond, Cagle.com

 

#10. Dick Wright, Cagle.com


Our weekly Top Ten is now a newspaper column!  Subscribing editors can find it at CagleCartoons.com with download links to grab the cartoons in high resolution.

Want to get EVERY new CagleCartoon from our 62 syndicated newspaper editorial cartoonists, in your email box every day? Just become a Cagle.com HERO and you get the exclusive daily emails of ALL THE CARTOONS!  See all the cartoons before the newspapers print them and never miss a cartoon!

Categories
Blog Newsletter Syndicate

GOP Election Nonsense

Here’s my tall, new cartoon about Republican election obstructions.

And here are some of my favorite cartoons by the CagleCartoonists …

 

Dave Whamond

 

Pat Byrnes

 

Chris Weyant


Want to get EVERY new CagleCartoon from our 62 syndicated newspaper editorial cartoonists, in your email box every day? Just become a Cagle.com HERO and you get the exclusive daily emails of ALL THE CARTOONS!  See all the cartoons before the newspapers print them and never miss a cartoon!

Categories
Blog Newsletter Syndicate

Liz Cheney Week

This week belonged to congresswoman Liz Cheney as she was kicked out of her Republican leadership position for refusing to tell lies about a “stolen election” and swear fealty to Trump. Here’s my cartoon.

And here are my Liz Cheney week favorites!

Steve Sack

 

Chris Weyant

 

Rick McKee


 

Taylor Jones

 

RJ Matson

 

Adam Zyglis

 

Dave Granlund

 

Dave Whamond

 

JD Crowe


Want to get EVERY new CagleCartoon from our 62 syndicated newspaper editorial cartoonists, in your email box every day? Just become a Cagle.com HERO and you get the exclusive daily emails of ALL THE CARTOONS!  See all the cartoons before the newspapers print them and never miss a cartoon!

Categories
Blog Newsletter Syndicate

Loyalty to Trump Gives Me a Headache

Here’s my new one, about loyalty to Trump headaches.

This one is based on an oldie from about 8 years ago, when Republicans were also bashing their heads for no good reason.  Things don’t change much.


Want to get EVERY new CagleCartoon from our 62 syndicated newspaper editorial cartoonists, in your email box every day? Just become a Cagle.com HERO and you get the exclusive daily emails of ALL THE CARTOONS!  See all the cartoons before the newspapers print them and never miss a cartoon!

 

Categories
Blog Newsletter Syndicate

Dragging the GOP and My Photoshop Recipe

Here’s my new cartoon, with President Biden dragging the GOP doggie to places where it doesn’t want to go.

I get lots of questions from cartoonists about how I recommend that they prepare their cartoons for syndication. Here is the “recipe” we give to our CagleCartoonists. Some new CagleCartoonists are old timers without computer skills, so the recipe is very detailed about little details that are self evident to the tech savvy.

First, I do a line drawing on paper in pencil or ink and I scan it. It isn’t important that it is on paper; drawing it electronically is fine, the important thing is that it is line art. This recipe is for coloring traditional cartoons with black lines.  The point of this is so that the lines remain clean and crispy black, and don’t spread with the poor registration we often see in newspaper printing.

So, scan the art at highest resolution in Grayscale – the higher the better, usually scanners do 600dpi.  Open the art in Photoshop, straighten the angle if necessary (IMAGE > Image Rotation), draw a marquee rectangle precisely around the art, just where you want it cropped, and EDIT > Copy (Command C), open a new document, which will open at the size of the copied art, and EDIT > Paste (Command V).

Go to IMAGE > Image Size, deselect “Constrain Proportions”, select 1000 pixels/inch, Width 8 inches, Height 6 inches – or vary the height a bit if the art is a different proportion, 4”x3” is good. Click OK

Why 4 x 3? Because newspaper leave a wide rectangle as the hole for editorial cartoons, and if cartoons are square or tall, almost no newspapers will print them. This is frustrating for gag cartoonists, and others who like a taller format that works better on the Web. Cartoonists who fight the wide rectangle just don’t get reprinted in newspapers.

Go to IMAGE > Brightness/Contrast, turn the contrast to 100% and adjust the brightness to what looks nice. Repeat if necessary. Make it a little darker than you think is necessary because it will lighten up in the next step. Click OK

GO to IMAGE > Mode > Bitmap, with method “50% Threshold” – if it is too light, UNDO the transformation to Bitmap and repeat the last step on the Grayscale image, making the image a bit darker/denser with the Brightness, then select “Bitmap” again.You’ll get something like this:

Clean up any hickies and make any changes in Photoshop with the brush and lasso tools.

Save as a TIFF format file with LZW compression. The file should be around 2 megs in size.

Then go on to color …

Take the bitmap/line art image we just made, go to the IMAGE menu and change to: GRAYSCALE, then go to the IMAGE menu again and change to CMYK.

Open the Layers Window from the WINDOWS menu. Add about 20 transparent background layers (Command Shift N, twenty times), drag the line art image to the top layer

Select the top layer and select the black line color with the eyedropper tool. Then go to the SELECT menu and select COLOR RANGE, selecting only the black lines, then select the “black” foreground color in the tools menu and make the black: 0%C, 0%M, 0%Y, 100%K, then select the EDIT menu and choose FILL.

With the top layer still selected, go to the SELECT menu and choose INVERSE, selecting the white areas, and delete – it should show a checkerboard pattern meaning the background is transparent and nothing is there. Select MULTIPLY from the drop menu at the top of the Layers window, this makes the color in the layers underneath the black lines print under the black lines so there is no haloing in printing. What this does is print the color under the back lines, so there is no “haloing” with bad registration.

Select the bottom layer from the LAYERS window, Select ALL (Command A), Go to the Tools window and select the foreground color and make it 0%C, 0%M, 0%Y, 0%K (white) and select FILL from the EDIT menu.

Then add colors on the layers in between to your taste. Label layers as you go to make them easy to find and group similar colors together. Save a copy at 1000dpi for your personal files as a CMYK TIFF with LZW compression as a copy with no layers. Go to the IMAGE menu and select IMAGE SIZE and resize the image to 500dpi. Save as the file to upload to CagleCartoons.com as a TIFF file with LZW compression and no layers – the file should be about 6megs in size.  You’ll end up with something like this.

Why CMYK? Most clients prefer RGB, which is best for the Web; they get photos in RGB format, and RGB files are smaller. But this recipe lets us have clean, crispy 100% black lines and if a printer can use a CMYK file, then CMYK is superior. In our system, editors have a choice of downloading the files as RGB, but they can only download CMYK if the file is originally created in CMYK.

In our system we have a 6.5 meg file size limit – that is because we often email cartoons and we don’t want the emails to be too big. We ask artists to make the images no smaller than 4,000 pixels wide. As a last step, reduce the resolution of the image so that it comes in under 6.5megs, and is 4,000 pixels wide. You should be able to come up with a TIFF file with LZW compression that is about 6 megs in size. Remember flatten the image so it isn’t huge with layers – but first, while you have layers …

Make a grayscale version …

We ask artists to make a grayscale version. Most newspapers still print in black and white, and it is nice to be able to control the contrast. When editors go to our site and select a cartoon they want in color, it brings up a preview page where they have a choice of a grayscale version. If the artist doesn’t prepare the grayscale version, our system creates it from the color cartoon, and that isn’t as nice. We also deliver grayscale cartoons by email to newspaper who want that. Better to control this and tweak a grayscale version.

Save Image with a new name. Select from the IMAGE menu: MODE: Grayscale. Adjust the Brightness and Contrast of the layers to taste.

Select FLATTEN IMAGE from the Layers window and save as a TIFF with LZW Compression – or save as a TIFF LZW compression copy with no layers and skip this step.

Why TIFF format? Because it is “non-lossy” and images should be saved in the best quality. Most artists prefer to save files in JPG format, and most newspapers prefer JPG formal also, since they get photos in that format. When editors download cartoons in our system they have a choice of JPG or TIFF. Saving an image as a 12 quality JPG isn’t “lossy,” but it may be bigger than a TIFF.

The grayscale file should be about 3 megs in size, and looks something like this …

I know I overexplained this, but the questions I get from artists are pretty granular.  I’m afraid I can’t really overexplain it.  I’ll bookmark this page and give it to cartoonists everytime this comes up.

The cartoonists push back against being asked for higher resolution that they want to do. They push back against TIFF format, and CMYK. They push back against the wide rectangle format. Especially the international cartoonists. It never ends.

This comes up all the time.


Our reader supported site, Cagle.com, still needs you!  Journalism is threatened with the pandemic that has shuttered newspaper advertisers. Some pundits predict that a large percentage of newspapers won’t survive the pandemic economic slump, and as newspapers sink, editorial cartoonists who depend on newspapers sink too, and along with them, our Cagle.com site.

The world needs political cartoonists more now than ever. Please consider supporting Cagle.com and visit Cagle.com/heroes.

 

 

Categories
Blog Newsletter Syndicate

GOP Deflects to Seuss and Potato

As congressional Republicans unanimously voted to kill the popular economic stimulus plan, they diverted attention to Mr. Potato Head and Dr. Seuss. Cancel Culture is, popular with their base and it is easy for them to come back to the comfort zone. Here’s my cartoon and some of my GOP + Seuss + Potato favorites.

Daryl Cagle

 

John Cole
Monte Wolverton
Adam Zyglis


Want to get EVERY new CagleCartoon from our 62 syndicated newspaper editorial cartoonists, in your email box every day? Just become a Cagle.com HERO and you get the exclusive daily emails of ALL THE CARTOONS!  See all the cartoons before the newspapers print them and never miss a cartoon!

Categories
Blog Newsletter Syndicate

Republican Infighting

Right now the House is debating President Trump’s second impeachment and a few, prominent Republicans have indicated their support for impeachment – a stark departure from the last impeachment that has split the Republican party.
The Republicans who are arguing against impeachment are described as cowed by Trump and fearful of their on political future and safety. I don’t believe it. It sounds to me like these guys drank the Kool-Aid and believe what they are saying.

Trump’s claims of a stolen election likely led to the election of the two Senate candidates in Georgia and Democratic control of the Senate. A few Republicans, like Liz Cheney and possibly Mitch McConnell can see that the GOP faces self-destruction if the continue to support their fascist fans.


Our reader supported site, Cagle.com, still needs you!  Journalism is threatened with the pandemic that has shuttered newspaper advertisers. Some pundits predict that a large percentage of newspapers won’t survive the pandemic economic slump, and as newspapers sink, so do editorial cartoonists who depend on newspapers, and along with them, our Cagle.com site, that our small, sinking syndicate largely supports, along with our fans.

The world needs political cartoonists more now than ever. Please consider supporting Cagle.com and visit Cagle.com/heroes.  We need you! Don’t let the cartoons die!

Categories
Blog Newsletter Syndicate

Republican Sedition Rotten Tomatoes

Why is it that big news always seems to happen when I’m bogged down in year-end syndicate accounting muck? This is an important time for editorial cartoons even when I’m facing a bunch of tax filing deadlines – so here are a couple of quickies. I revamped an old cartoon with a new speech balloon for today’s revised GOP sedition sedition cartoon that is much better than the oldie that got little ink.

I don’t revise cartoons very often, but this one seemed nice, and I labeled it so the few editors who printed the oldie years ago, can avoid being embarrassed by printing a similar cartoon that some readers might remember.

I have another old favorite that I drew when Barack Obama won his presidential election. This is Republican elephants showing their anguish in the form of Picasso’s Guernica.

What is old is new again – except that it seems to get worse the next time.


Want to get EVERY new CagleCartoon from our 62 syndicated newspaper editorial cartoonists, in your email box every day? Just become a Cagle.com HERO and you get the exclusive daily emails of ALL THE CARTOONS!  See all the cartoons before the newspapers print them and never miss a cartoon!

Support the cartoonists!  Be a Cagle.com Hero!

 

 

 

Categories
Blog Newsletter Syndicate

Spineless!

Here’s today’s cartoon about the spineless Republicans who are backing Trump’s baseless claims of voter fraud and his refusal to recognize that Joe Biden won the election.

And here’s my cartoon as it appeared in The Washington Post this morning, 11/18/20.

“Spineless” cartoons are a favorite cliché for editorial cartoonists. Here’s a spineless cartoon that I drew about President Obama’s Middle East policy many years ago.

Here’s a 25 year old spineless oldie from my TRUE! cartoons, a syndicated newspaper feature that I drew back in 1995.

I took a quick look at the vast PoliticalCartoons.com archives for  my favorite spineless cartoons by the CagleCartoonists.

This 13 year old spineless oldie is from Monte Wolverton.

 

This three year old spineless oldie comes from Adam Zyglis.

 

This Dave Whamond spineless Mitch McConnell cartoon is a recent classic.

Did you know you can see all of the CagleCartoons in your email box, before they are printed in newspapers? That’s a lot of great editorial cartoons! These special, daily emails are something our readers have requested for years, and it is now a perk for our Cagle.com Heroes supporters. Come to Cagle.com/Heroes and support Cagle.com and the CagleCartoonists with any size contribution you want, and you get the cool, daily delivery of all the cartoons!


Our reader supported site, Cagle.com, still needs you!  Journalism is threatened with the pandemic that has shuttered newspaper advertisers. Some pundits predict that a large percentage of newspapers won’t survive the pandemic economic slump, and as newspapers sink, so do editorial cartoonists who depend on newspapers, and along with them, our Cagle.com site, that our small, sinking syndicate largely supports, along with our fans.

The world needs political cartoonists more now than ever. Please consider supporting Cagle.com and visit Cagle.com/heroes.  We need you! Don’t let the cartoons die!

Categories
Blog Newsletter Syndicate

Too Close to Call!

Our reader supported site, Cagle.com, needs your support!  America needs editorial cartoonists now more than ever!  Please consider supporting Cagle.com and visit Cagle.com/heroes.  Our newspaper clients are in general decline and are crashing with the pandemic. Cartoonists need you now more than ever!

This morning the election is undecided, with President Trump claiming victory and the Biden campaign confident of victory. The lawsuits are starting and the cartoonists are drawing!  Here are the first cartoons about our election purgatory. I expect lots of great cartoons to keep coming in – keep your eyes on Cagle.com!

Martin “Shooty” Sutovec

 

John Darkow

 

Pat Bagley

 

Bob Englehart

 

John Cole

 

Adam Zyglis

 

Jeff Koterba

 

Joe Heller

Categories
Blog Newsletter Syndicate

Heat Wave!

It is predicted to hit 109ºF (43ºC) today at my house in Woodland Hills, California. Yesterday we saw the all time, USA, high temperature of 130º (54C) in Death Valley California – today will be even hotter! We’ve had rolling blackouts as the electrical grid is overloaded and fires are popping up around the state, with a fire tornado filmed and lightening strikes setting many small fires. It is predicted to be hot like this for the next three days.

So, on a day like this I turn to our oldies. Even with the Post Office crisis and virtual Democratic Convention raging, it is hard to think of anything other than the heat. I went back over the past 20 years of cartoons looking for some nice, heat wave cartoons that didn’t look too stale, and I reposted them for newspapers today. Here’s my own Republicans and Global Warming denial cartoon, and my favorite, evergreen heat wave cartoons, rereleased today.

Daryl Cagle

 


Patrick Chappatte


Dave Granlund

 


Bill Day

 

Pat Bagley

 


Our reader supported site, Cagle.com, still needs you!  Journalism is threatened with the pandemic that has shuttered newspaper advertisers. Some pundits predict that a large percentage of newspapers won’t survive the pandemic economic slump, and as newspapers sink, so do editorial cartoonists who depend on newspapers, and along with them, our Cagle.com site, that our small, sinking syndicate largely supports, along with our fans.

The world needs political cartoonists more now than ever. Please consider supporting Cagle.com and visit Cagle.com/heroes.  We need you! Don’t let the cartoons die!


Please forward this to your friends – tell them our Cagle.com email newsletters are FREE and FUN! They can join the newsletter list at Cagle.com/subscribe.


 

Categories
Blog Syndicate

High School Math

Here’s my cartoon from yesterday, about the school shooting in Parkland, Florida.

All of the cartoonists have drawn too many cartoons about school shootings. We have a collection of cartoons about the latest school shootings on Cagle.com – come take a look and focus your rage against the NRA.